


Ball Python

by orphan_account



Series: Deceit Sanders [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Deceit, Deceit Angst, Deceit Sanders Needs a Hug, Deceit Sanders-centric, Human AU, Hurt Deceit Sanders, Multi, Sad Deceit Sanders, Soulmates, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, dlamp - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23131375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Dee Ceit was born odd. He used to have loving mothers. He used to be happy. But not anymore. Both odd personality, and disfigured, Dee is certain his soulmates would never love him. So he hides himself. He hides from all of Destiny’s attempts for him to meet the four.Well, Destiny’s laughing as she gives him one last soulbond.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit Sanders, DLAMP, Logic | Logan Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders/Deceit Sanders
Series: Deceit Sanders [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701595
Comments: 69
Kudos: 368





	1. Loving Mothers

It was a hot summer night, and Dee had already gotten rid of all of his blankets. He felt like his skin was melting, it was so hot. He was hoping that fresh air would be cooler, so Dee slowly walked over to the window, wanting to open it. 

Flashing red and blue lights immediately met him outside. He knew that someone wa in danger as soon as he saw them, but remembered that the lights were going to help. Always loving the flashing lights, his eyes gazed in wonder, as they got closer. Only when they stopped in front of his house did he think something was wrong.

Firemen were screaming up to him, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. But that wasn't important right now. What was important, was finding his pet ball python, and his two mothers. Only seven years old, this was terrifying. 

After running to the door, Dee forgot to put the back of his hand on it, and grabbed the handle alone. He yelped when pain reached his hand. Well, no going out that way. Next step, snake. It was honestly a miracle that he managed to get to the tank that his female snake, Iris, was, before a fireman grabbed him.

It was also a miracle that the fireman grabbed him, as he was literally on fire. When had that happened?

They managed to put out his burning clothes, but not before he was crying and screaming, third degree burns all the way down his left side.

That was eight years ago. But the scars never faded, neither mentally nor physically. 

Dee couldn’t stand flashing lights any more, no matter the color. Fire was just as bad, almost worse for him to look at.

So, when the school bully stood in front of his desk at the end of class holding a lighter, he was just about on the edge of a mental breakdown.

“Aw, is coffee creamer scared?” Remy taunted, leaning over the desk.

“Coffee creamer?”

“I tried to go for a ‘half and half’ insult, but it didn’t quite work out.”

Well, of course Dee was scared. But would he show that? _No._

“Just leave me alone, Remy.”

“Oh come on, it’s just a little lighter.”

Dee hissed in surprise when the taller boy neared it to his face.

The flame almost reached out to his nose. That’s when he broke, flinching backwards into the wall. However, that trance was broken as soon as Remy leaned himself towards Dee’s bag.

“ _No!_ ” He screamed, lunging forward. One badly burnt hand grabbed the bag away, and a mostly unharmed hand pulled a pocket knife out of his pocket. Brandishing it at the bully, only then did Remy waver.

When Iris slithered out of the bag, onto Dee’s arms. 

And she kept slithering.

And slithering.

It was like a magician pulling scarves out of their sleeves, but it was a four foot long snake out of a loser’s backpack. The heavy weight of Iris on his shoulders was comforting, and brought back lots of his confidence.

“..What...” Remy started, baffled. He was almost inclined to ask to touch her.

Almost.

“The school doesn’t know I have her.” And with that, Dee stood up with a bag and a snake, and proceeded to walk out the classroom door like a boss.

Patton Heart had been walking down the halls after school, as he forgot something in his locker.

He wanted to go to the Drama Club’s “secret lair,” (as everyone called it) to meet his boyfriend. 

Instead, he turned the corner and ran straight into another student.

“Oh!” He exclaimed, ready to apologize. But the other student seemed preoccupied.

“Oh, Iris- Iris, you’re okay. Okay.”

“...Who’s Iris?”

Only then did the other boy look up, meeting sky blue eyes, and a freckle covered nose.

“Uh- no one. No one important..”

Only then did Patton see the snake peaking out of Dee’s sleeve.

“Aww! Is that Iris?!”

The snake slowly slipped out of his sleeve, and went back to resting on his shoulders.

“..Yeah, this is Iris.”

“Could I.. touch her?”

And that’s where Roman found his boyfriend, Patton. On the floor, with Dee Ceit, and a snake.

“You only met him today?” Roman asked Patton afterwards, surprised.

“Yeah? What about it?”

“Well, he’s seen as the.. er, loser of the school? Everyone knows him. And his tragic backstory.” The last part was a whisper.

“That’s not very nice! He seemed very kind. And he let me touch Iris!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic! Hope you like it (cause I don’t.) Constructive criticism in the comments? :D


	2. Snakes and Skirts

Of course, the first time Roman King had ever seen Dee, was with Patton on the floor. But the first time he _met_ the other, was at the pet store, of all places.

He had needed to get more crickets for Logan, his best friend, to “experiment” on. But as he turned the corner, looking for crickets, he instead found a boy presumably stealing from a mice cage. (Dee’s hand was far from outside the container.)

“What, exactly, are you doing?” Roman asked, getting angry at seeing a thief.

Dee turned to look at the angry boy, where Roman could see the rest of his burnt face, letting the taller boy recognize him.

Dee’s first impression, was, _Oh god, a theater kid._ Which was not at all inaccurate, seeing that Roman was the most popular “theater kid” in their school.

“..You’re that boy with the snake.”

As if on cue, “the snake” slipped out of his bag, onto his shoulders, tasting the mice around her. Dee responded with said mice, stuffing one in the bag.

“Do you need something?” The absolute criminal asked, closing the cage.

“Well, originally I wanted to know where the crickets were, but are you _stealing_?!”

“Um, yeah. Mice aren’t exactly cheap.”

“But.. you’re just stuffing them in a pocket?”

“Got a problem?”

Roman was silent that time.

“I’m pretty sure the crickets are the next aisle over, they remodeled.” Just with that single line, Dee ended the entire (short) conversation, and walked away.

It was exactly at three o’clock, after his classes ended, but before Patton and Roman’s, that Logan Crofters would visit the library. It was around four to six, some days of the week, that Dee Ceit would hang out at the library after school.

As usual, Logan walked down the science fiction area, long, blue skirt swaying back and forth. As usual, Dee found a mostly comfortable spot to sleep, and snuggled in with Iris.

Today was the only day that Logan noticed him.

Wedged between a bookshelf and chair, haphazardly stuffed, was Dee. Of course, with a snake curled around his shoulders.

Curiosity won against being a normal human being for once, in his small emotional battle.

“I believe that is a ball python, is it not?” Logan asked, leaning towards a half asleep teen.

That certainly woke him up.

“Wha..?”

“I would assume they are female, as they are most commonly bigger than males.” Leaning forward again, his books threatened to topple.

“How old are they?” Was his third question in probably less than thirty seconds. It was not every day someone got to see an almost fully grown snake.

“Could you, like, step back?”

Oh. Well, Logan was a little close.

“Apologies. I suppose I may have scared you there.” He said, pushing up his glasses. “Though.. may I touch her?”

“Sure.. just, uh, lemme get up.” Yeah, sure. Like he was going to un-squish himself without outside help.

Reading his face, Logan reached out a hand. “Need assistance?”

“Please.”

And that’s where a slightly miffed librarian, and more than confused Roman found his best friend. With the same man he found his boyfriend. And a snake.

The stories always said that you’d get your first soulbond around fifteen. Dee had already turned fifteen, but maybe his soulmate hadn’t. Or, better yet, he didn’t have a soulmate.

I mean, they would be better off without him. He was a hindrance, a burden, holding them down from success. 

Destiny had always hated him, though. So waking up to messages on his arms isn’t a surprise.

What is a surprise, is more soulbonds later. But that hasn’t happened yet, so Dee can live in peace, thinking he can just ignore his (four) soulmates.


	3. i waNt A bIrRD

Like every Wednesday, Patton wrote down a simple list on his arm. If he did it Wednesday, he could get everything he needed by Thursday, and not have to worry Friday. This list included eggs, milk, sugar, flour, chocolate chips, pasta, alfredo sauce, and garlic bread. Everything he needed for a dinner with Roman. 

Though Roman was aware of Patton’s habit, that just made him even more confused when he saw it in blue sharpie.

Logan immediately knew what it was, and immediately knew who Patton was. The cross dressing teen had been researching soulmates for the past half of his life, always enthralled by the idea.

Virgil? Well, Virgil’s for another time.

But Dee?

Dee was on the verge of crying. (Haha, Virge.) Sitting on the edge of his twin mattress, alone in a dimly lit apartment, he was curled up in a ball with his hands on his head. 

He had been hoping, _begging,_ that he wouldn’t be the second half of another person’s life. He would make their life miserable, he was absolutely certain. They would never love him, and that was fine. He was okay with that, truly. But the other person wasn’t. How could they be? They, an innocent bystander, had been matched with _him_ , a disgusting, deformed mistake.

Destiny was cruel. Dee hated her. 

Should he confront his soulmate? Tell them early, so they wouldn’t be disappointed? He had heard of people who chose their own lovers. Maybe they’d find someone else.

Or he could pretend he didn’t exist. Let them think they were soulless. It would be easier for them to find someone else, but he’d have to be careful with ink-

A tingling on his arm.

Breaking out of his frantic thoughts, Dee looked up to the arm draped around his knees.

Someone else was writing. In another color.

Neat, sharp, dark blue handwriting quickly scribbled over his left arm;

_Are you my soulmate?_

He was confused. How had they known he was there? Dee hadn’t written anything. Unless they had more than one soulbond? Oh, that would be terrible. He’d have to live his life with not one thing to avoid, but two?

...More tingling.

This time, it was the same handwriting as the list was written in. Large, round, sky blue writing met his eyes.

_Probably?! Who are you? I already have a lover, but we could have more! This is s-_

Before the lighter shade could continue, a bright, bold, crimson pen interrupted.

_I have two soulmates?! Awesome! Who are you two?_

He had three. Three soulmates to avoid. Oh boy.

The light blue. _I’m Patton Heart! I just turned fifteen last week!_

The red again. _Patton?! Babe, I’m in the room next to you._ So, red and sky blue were.. living with each other?

A slight pause followed, presumably the two were meeting in the hallway and talking.

The red again. _Who’s the last one?_

_My name is Logan Crofter, and I turned sixteen this year. I’m assuming you two share a home?_

In a frantic attempt to write something, light blue disregarded upper and lowercase completely.

_LoGAn?! OMG, lOgAN iT’s paTTOn_

_Well, hello. I had wondered for a while if you may be my soulmate. We seem to work well with each other. And the red ballpoint pen is Roman?_

How had he known it was a ballpoint pen? That’s.. dedication to the..

uh.. 

Pen fandom? Pendom? Well, it seems more like a pen community. Penmunity. That was a lot of dedication to the penmunity. 

_We should talk after school. 5:00 after school, Cream Cafe?_ Red ballpoint pen.

Had Dee mentioned that he worked at the pet store across the street from Cream Cafe?

_Sure. See you there._ Those were dark blue’s last scribbled, before he left the house.

Well. _This sucks._ Dee thought after a few minutes. I mean, at least he wasn’t taking _half_ of someone’s life, instead it was just one fourth. They still had two other soulmates.

The biggest problem right now, though, was hiding the marks. From the conversation, they spanned over his hands, all the way to his shoulder. Both arms. Hopefully Logan, Roman, and Patton would learn to use ink sparingly.

Luckily, there was a pair of yellow gloves in the drawer next to Dee. Walking to the bathroom, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

And wow, did he look sketchy.

Dark, more messy than curly hair fell out of his yellow beanie. Matched with multiple piercings, and a dark hoodie, Dee looked like a slightly edgy wanted criminal. The gloves didn’t help. Neither did his entire scarred left side.

But he was never too focused on looks. As long as he passed high school, and kept Iris safe, he was good.

Speaking of Iris, the three foot long snake slithered out from underneath his bed, happy and ready to be stuffed into a bag.

Remy had done his usual, making Dee late to class, casually flicking matches his way, nearly slamming hands into lockers. Though, he didn’t mention the snake. But other than that, the day went pretty well. 

So when he walked into Petverse, the pet store, he wasn’t surprised to see his day go downhill.

A mother, obviously tired, was dragging one of her four children away from the bird cage. “Olivia, we can’t get a parrot. Maybe when you’re older.”

“But mommy, I want a bird!”

The mother was holding a baby. Behind her, eleven year old twins were playing on an iPhone.

“Olivia, please stop screaming. We can’t get a bird.”

Olivia, the six year old girl, turned to her mother with a look on her face that said nothing but, _You want screaming?_ before she absolutely _wailed_.

“i waNt A bIrRR _DD!_ ”

The yelling made the mother’s baby cry, giving Olivia the perfect opportunity to pull on the cage one more time. It was just her luck that that pull brought the birds tumbling down, screeching the whole way.

A cage popped open, birds flew out, a six year old ~~moron~~ child screamed, employees ran. Other customers had been shocked, and accidentally knocked down other cages and tanks.

Dee had never seen so much chaos. He swore a girl ran out screaming, with two turtles on her face.

But this was the perfect opportunity.

He could sneak out, and.. well, he didn’t know what. Maybe go down to Cream Cafe. For absolutely no reason.

But no one would see him leave, so now was the time. And leave, he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve always wanted a bird


	4. Bird Slurping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter! (And erratic posting schedule)

Oh, he was _so_ getting fired for this. But it was fine. There were other places to work.

And before you ask, no, Dee did not want to meet his three soulmates. Not at all. He was just curious as to what they were like, nothing more.

A few cars almost smacked him as he ran across the street, but he got across. Quickly but quietly half-walking-half-crouching up to a window, he saw inside. The entire inside was pastel pink, pastel blue, various shades of beige, and white. ...It looked like a teddy bear shot himself in the cafe.

Well, whatever. The look didn’t matter as much. 

Peering through the window, Dee saw a group of three sitting in the corner. It took a moment, but he finally recognized them.

They were all taller than himself, but the shortest had a round face, millions of freckles, and the happiest smile Dee had ever seen. Light brown hair fell around his face, slightly curly, but not as curly as Dee’s. Dee’s certain he could make his _way_ more round, but he didn’t have time to wash his hair. (Greasy it stays.) Patton Heart seemed to be laughing, probably at something another one said.

To his right, was Roman. Tall, definitely not dark, but very handsome. His beautiful, bright, gleaming green eyes shone, like emeralds in a spotlight. It was difficult to tear his eyes away.

No. No it was not. Dee did not find him attractive.

Well, he did, but he’s allowed to _say_ Roman looked stunning- but that didn’t mean he wanted a soulmate. Nor a relationship.

Lastly, to the left, was Logan. Dear, charming Logan. Most people didn’t see him that way, but Dee never knew why. He was so _enthusiastic_ about things he was passionate about. Sure, he was blunt as an axe. And sure, he wasn’t enthusiastically about things he _wasn’t_ interested about, but everyone was. To some degree.

Logan was so confident in himself. He was always who he wanted to be, flowing skirts, and blouses, and all. Today, he was wearing an ankle length space themed skirt, with a NASA t-shirt tucked in.

Dee honestly had no idea why he had come here. It was as if.. he was drawn. But that didn’t matter. He should just go back to the pet store, and fix whatever mess “Olivia” had made. (If your name is Olivia, I’m so sorry lol. It’s a truly beautiful name)

Standing up and turning around, Dee.. ran straight into another man.

Both of them screeched as they went down, one in delight, and the other horror. 

Though, Dee’s shock didn’t last long, as the other man immediately started cackling.

“Oh-“ Cackle cackle. “-My lord-“ Wheeze. Cackle cackle? “Your face-!” And his laughter got even worse.

Looking up, Dee saw another boy. He looked.. strangely familiar. Definitely wearing a revealing crop top, shorts, and _thigh high combat boots_ , he just. Kept. _Laughing_.

His whole body shook, kicking his legs back and forth. A small lock of hair dyed gray was going wild.

“Are you.. okay...?” Dee couldn’t even imagine how long it takes to lace up those boots.

His question seemed to knock him out of his laughing fit, and he nodded, flicking a tear away.

Holding out a hand with dark green and black painted nails, he introduced himself.

“Remus King, at your service.” Remus said the word “service,” like it was some sort of hard candy. Sweet, and long to rid.

Dee hesitantly brought a gloved hand up to shake. So that’s why he looked so familiar. Remus was Roman’s twin brother. 

“...Dee. Dee Ceit, nice to.. meet you.”

“Who names their kid Dee?”

“Who names their child after an ancient villain?” He snapped back.

“Fair enough. Though, why are you creeping like a stalker?”

Remus tilted to the left, looking past Dee and straight through the window, to see a perfect view of his brother, and two other boys.

Eyes wide, he turned back. “Are you creeping on my brother?!”

“W-What? No, I wasn’t!”

“Mmmmhm. Sure you weren’t.”

Remus stood back up, out of the mud. “Anyways,” he said, “I need to get to the pet store. I need more fish.”

“I.. wouldn’t do that if I were you.”  
  


And that’s how Dee ended up with a new friend, who managed to steal four or five fish in all of the chaos of Olivia.

“One of those is a box fish, it can’t live with the others.”

“Why not?”

“It gives off a toxin, killing the others.”

Remus stared at the small box fish, before deciding that was “spectacularly amazing.”

“I don’t think thay’s even grammatically correct.”

“Neither is ‘I’d like to slurp some birdies, do they go crunch?’ but you didn’t bother me on that.”

Dee just sighed, a small smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally couldn’t thpe this out. It took me ten minutes to find all the stupid mistakes I found


	5. Match

Virgil Storm was angry.

Well, he normally was. Either angry, or scared- there was no in between. But right now, unlike normal, he was _seething_.

Looking down at his arm, was an entire conversation, in red, light blue, and navy ink. That wasn’t so bad, Virgil had honestly been excited about getting soulmates.

But the name was.

No, not Logan Crofter. Logan was actually rather nice, even if he wasn’t aware how.. y’know, emotions work. Incredibly blunt, and a little dense, but those just added to his.. charm? Charm. He was charming in his own way.

And not Patton Heart either. He was incredibly kind, putting so much before him. Maybe a bit too soft, but Virgil still thought him amazing.

But _Roman._ Roman. Fucking. King.

The two could absolutely not stand each other. Polar opposites. One biased, loud, and way too shiny, the other (also biased, but he would never admit that) quiet, and preferring to stay in the corners and edges of the room. Mostly.

Absolute hatred wracked Virgil’s body every time he thought of the other. But for him to be his _soulmate_?

Destiny was _cruel._

So, the group of three- Patton, Logan, and Roman- had two more soulmates. Both hiding for different reasons, but hiding all the same.

Of course, Dee and Virgil didn’t know the other existed.

Yet. They were both acquaintances with the vice principal.

Dee was in the middle of math. God, he despised math.

Sitting with both elbows on his desk, head in his hands, the boy was contemplating going to sleep instead of this torture. 

Eyes drooping, head tipping slightly forward, consciousness leaving him.

But before he could loose all consciousness, out of nowhere, there was.. _smoke?_

Immediately, he remembered that day. There was so much smoke, he couldn’t breath. He couldn’t breath. The classroom was so small-

Fire. Fire flashed in front of his eyes. There was fire on his desk- he was sure he made some sort of unholy noise, but there was _fire-_

 _“_ Dee, is there a problem?”

Dee realized that he was rigid, and forced himself to unclench his jaw and hands. Looking down, the match had been put out by.. another student. All it was now, was a little stick.

Snickering. A snide remark on his lips, Remy had thrown the match, and the other student quickly came over and put it out.

“N-No ma’am.” He cringed when his voice broke.

n “Remy, is there a problem?”

“No, ma’am!”

“Virgil?”

The student in front of him all but growled, “ _Yes,_ ma’am.”

And that’s how the three boys, Remy, Dee, and Virgil ended up in the principal’s office.

Their vice principal was sitting behind their desk, obviously annoyed to see.. one of them again.

Dee came here often, but so did Remy. He didn’t know the other student though, so it could have been any of them.

Leaning back in their chair, and putting a hand on their face, the vice principal sighed.

“I’m not surprised to see any of you.”

Ah. So all three. 

“I’d like to hear the story, from all three of you. The other two will not interrupt the one speaking. Who would like to go first?”

Remy and Virgil both sat up straighter, and Virgil even opened his mouth, but Dee didn’t make a move. Apparently, that was enough.

“Dee? Would you like to start?”

He just slumped back further into his chair, and pulled his beanie down over stupidly annoying curls.

One moment. Two.

“Well?”

“I overreacted, it’s no big deal.”

“Okay, but will you tell me why?”

“No.” False confidence. God, he wished Iris was here.

The air was thick with tension, before the vice principal started again.

“Well, Mr. Storm, would you like to explain?”

“Mr. Storm” tipped himself to the edge of his seat. “Remy had a match in the middle of a classroom, and could have burnt the building down!” He sounded angry, but there was.. fear. A hint of anxiety in his voice.

“Is this true?” The VP turned to Dee, who only nodded silently. “Well, Remy, this is a suspendable offence.”

“Well-“ The bully spluttered, “H-He has a snake!”

Dee froze, rigid.

But the VP just looked bored.

“I am well aware, and we have registered it as a service animal. I’ll let you go today, bit next time something like this happens, we’ll be forced to remove you from out school.”

_What?_

But the VP just sent him out without another word. That was probably the fastest time in the office he had ever had.

Dee’s friend group was quickly growing. Because when all three students walked out of the room, it was impossible to not be friends with Virgil Storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter sucks uwu  
> I didn’t know what to do uwu  
> It’ll get better uwu


	6. Virgil’s Loving Mother

They used his arms as a texting system.

Nearly every night, Dee would flop onto his bed, only to find more writing.

He hated it. He truly did, seeing what they were doing every day. But it was fine. He’d get used to it. He’d have to, if he was going to live his entire life this way.

It was fine.

Turning his head to the side, he read more text.

_I’m baking cookies! Who wants to come over?_ Patton, light blue.

_I’ll be home in a few moments, my love!_ Roman. Red.

_How did you get a red fountain pen?_ Logan, dark blue.

Seriously, the penmunity had to be a secret thing.

_I stole it from the math teacher_ Roman scribbled slowly.

_The math teacher doesn’t even have a red fountain pen_

_Dude how do you know that_

Dee covered his arm with his sleeve again, refusing to intrude on their personal conversation. (How does one write on their skin with a _fountain pen_?)

Well, whatever. He’d learn to ignore it, it’s fine.

Perfectly fine.

_A month after Virgil and Dee met_

Another soul bond.

Well, Dee wasn’t absolutely certain, but pretty sure.

He started suspecting something when he woke up.. happy. Excited.

_Too_ happy.

His excitement only grew, until around five at night. Then it morphed into.. endearment. _Love_.

A few more days passed, of Dee feeling seemingly random emotions, until the excitement came back. It morphed again, into something warm in his chest.

Checking his arm, he saw that Logan, Roman, and Patton had all planned a date for five o’clock. Well, that was fine. Sure, he was feeling the other’s emotions, he knew that now, but they were in _his_ head, and he had control of his own head.

What he forgot, was that not only could he feel them, they could feel him. Including Virgil.

Virgil had invited Dee over for dinner, so he, obviously, obliged. It wasn’t like he could eat anything better at his own home.

The walk there was much shorter than he had anticipated. A few blocks was probably how far he walked before seeing an.. actually, rather welcoming home.

Pastel purple and white paint, lush green lawns, and flower beds worked together to make the home look nothing like Virgil’s demeanor suggested.

At the door, a woman as lovely looking as the house greeted him. Of course, she plastered shock all over her face after seeing Dee’s burns, but quickly fixed it. 

“You must be Dee!” She said, cheerfully. Too cheerful. “I’m his mom, Susan.”

“Susan” led him into the house, immediately asking if he needed anything.

“Um.. no, I’m fine.” He mumbled, before he was literally _pushed_ up the stairs.

_Do all mothers act like this?_

The answer was, no. But he didn’t know that. He also didn’t know that Virgil had never had any actual friends, so Susan was simply happy for her son.

Virgil’s home may be nothing like Virgil, but his _room absolutely was_.

Thick, heavy sheets covered the windows, preventing any light in. The walls were either a deep, dark purple, or a black. furniture quickly following suit. Everything- and Dee meant everything- was covered in fake spiderwebs.

Wait, no, that one might be real.

“Dee!” Virgil’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. The door had been closed behind him, Susan long gone.

Dee hadn’t expected the first thing Virgil had asked. 

“Did you bring Iris?”

But he didn’t skip a beat. “Of course.” On cue, the beautiful snake slipped out of his sleeve.

A feeling that made him want to quirk his eyebrow, and tilt his head. Confusion.

“Do you.. always keep Iris in your shirt?”

“Well, no. I have bags.”

“Then why didn’t you bring a bag?”

Dee shrugged.

“Doesn’t it get uncomfortable?”

“Not really. It’s not like she goes into my pants-“

Virgil quickly threw a pillow, face slightly flushed. “ _Dee!_ ”

Virgil was complaining about Roman again. Dee didn’t know that they were soulmates, or he would’ve cut ties with the other boy immediately. But he knew that Virgil hated Roman.

And that wasn’t such a big deal, Dee didn’t mind, (he did slightly) but then Virgil changed topics.

“...he’s just like my mother!” Dee perked up at that. “Neither know anything about personal space, being quiet, or small actions! It’s annoying. I wish neither ever existed.” Virgil quickly crossed his arms, before looking up with wide eyes, realizing what he had said.

But it was already too late. Dee had felt a small flash of anger as soon as Virgil had started complaining about his mother. What right did he have? She was still there. She was still making him meals, and attempting a relationship with her son. She still tried. She still cared. She was still _alive_.

And Virgil was ignoring that- all of it. Every moment he could be cherishing, he was tossing to the side, replacing it with _complaints_. And, Dee was already rather fond of Susan.

Dee saw red.

Before he realized what he was doing, Dee was on top of the taller boy, pinning him to the floor. Horror and guilt was painted everywhere you could see on Virgil.

Dee ignored it.

“ _Say that again_.”

Virgil, after being slammed to the ground by Dee, (who was surprisingly strong) was obviously panicking from the snarl on his face. The scarred boy’s eyes were wide, and he was breathing hard, teeth barred.

“D-Dee, I’m sorry- I didn’t-“

Virgil never finished his sentence, as he could now see up Dee’s sleeve. Written in bright, bold, curly red letters, were the words _I’m home! Nerd, do you want to come over?_

Dee never heard the end either, as Virgil’s sleeve had been pulled up. Written in red letters- _I’m home! Nerd, do you want to come over?_

_Dee’s my soulmate?_

But Dee was already up, off the ground, picking up Iris.

“Wait, you don’t have to leave-!”

Dee basically ripped open one of the windows, throwing sheets to the side, intending to leave that way instead of the door. And then the other was gone into the night. 

Dee Ceit wouldn’t be seen by Virgil Storm for a long time.

Logan was simply sitting at his desk, working on math homework. He had always found math rather simple, sometimes even fun. 

When suddenly, a rock of absolute dread dropped straight to the bottom of his stomach, very quickly followed by a blazing, blinding white rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! I kept forgetting that I need to save my story, and it was deleted multiple times. This chapter isn’t as good as it was before, but we use what we can ;-;


	7. Another

Logan was incredibly confused.

Patton wouldn’t be angry at someone. Not as angry as the emotion he could feel on the other end of the connection. Roman would, but why would Patton feel such _dread_? Regret? Maybe even fear? Unless it was one person feeling both of these. Probably not, though.

It was then that Patton nearly ripped his door of the hinges, fighting Logan’s door open.

“ _lOgAN-_ “

...to fall right on his face, door handle coming with.

“Are you.. alright?”

Patton muffled a reply.

“I assume you could feel it too, then?”

The other looked up, nodding with a worried look on his face.

“So it is not you feeling these?”

A shake of the head.

Before Roman came barreling down the hallway, slamming into the wall and tripping over Patton all at once. A pained “ _oof_ ” could be heard.

“Logan, my love, whatever has distressed you so?!” 

But Roman saw his other boyfriend casually sitting at his desk, skirt and blouse traded for loose pajamas, almost a bored look on his face.

Nope, never mind. Definitely annoyance. It was always hard to tell with Logan.

“I’m perfectly fine. We had assumed that it was you so distressed, as neither of us are in any drama.”

“Drama? As in theatre?” 

“No, drama as in an exciting, emotional, or unexpected series of events or set of circumstances.” He recited from the dictionary. 

“Walking thesaurus..”

“The word you would be looking for is dictionary. The thesaurus gives synonyms and antonyms.”

“Yeah, whatever, nerd. So.. who’s feeling.. this?” Roman gestured to his chest. The anger was still burning, but now there was something else. Something that made his chest hurt, and make him want to frown. The regret didn’t change, though.

Patton gasped slightly, staring at Logan from the floor. 

“There.. there’s another.” 

Roman and Logan just stared.

Standing up, a hand ran through the other’s hair. “How had I not realized earlier..? The signs were all there. No wonder it was so quiet around here.” He’d started pacing. “We have to find them!”

They needn’t search far, for Logan felt a tingling on his arm.

Thin, looping handwriting, in a purple gel pen.

_My name is Virgil Storm. Meet me at Cream Cafe, 5pm_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This sucks! I’m sorry, it’s been longer than I wanted it to be before posting this chapter, and it’s short, but my stupid autistic head refuses to read the twelve page long articles in size sixteen font our teachers are assigning us. I promise the next chapter will be better, and longer!


	8. Roman Bites

Five o’clock, Cream Cafe. They were there, all three of them, searching for Virgil Storm.

He wasn’t there.

“This is where he said to come, right..?” Patton asked, obviously concerned for Virgil, and not them.

Logan looked back down to his arm, currently covered in the long sleeve of a rather outdated, dark blue dress, ending at his toes. “Yes, Cream Cafe, five at night. It’s currently five hours, seven minutes, thirty six, thirty seven, thirty eight, thi-“

“Okay, pocket protector, we get it. Seven minutes late isn’t that bad though, right? We could just wait.”

Patton nodded, and they sat outside, waiting for their fourth soulmate.

“Logan, what time is it?”

“Five hours, forty six minutes, twelve seconds.”

Roman let out a groan and stood up, stretching. “We’ve waited half an hour-“

“Thirty nine minutes.”

“..Thirty nine minutes. Do you think he’s actually going to come?”

They were all ready to go, this small adventure being fruitless. Patton was ready to voice this, too. 

Before a man (could he count as a man?) came rolling onto the sidewalk from the street, multiple cars nearly killing him. As soon as he hit the curb, the man popped straight up, doing a somersault, and finally landing on his hands.

The man was wearing the tightest crop top you could imagine, suspenders holding up his shorts. Not much leg was shown, however, as thigh high combat boots- no, now that they were in the air, you could clearly see that they were three inch high heels- covered the rest.

In his hair, a single streak of gray. 

“Hello, dear brother!”

_Oh dear god._

“So you’re.. um, Reemuus?” Patton was trying to have a good impression on Roman’s brother, not yet realizing how much of a waste of time that was.

“The one and only!”

“And Virgil has sent you?” Logan asked.

“Indeed, he did.”

“..Why?”

“Well you see, my dear Logan- Virgil has a case of the ‘oh dear gods I’m going to die a sad and lonely death and there’s nothing I can do about it’ again! And he decided, ‘oh, I can’t go there. They’ll all hate me, because I’m short!’”

“Because he’s short?”

“He didn’t actually say that. He’s just short.” That wasn’t actually accurate. Virgil had to be the second tallest out of the four soulmates, but Roman and Remus were literal giants, both almost peaking six feet four inches. Only short compared to Remus. “Anyways, he was all like, ‘Oh, _Remus_! My lord and savior! Please help me, and send them my regrets!’”

“Regrets?”

“He didn’t actually have any regrets. But I’m here for him, to tell you, that he’s not coming!” Remus did jazz hands, a large, open smile on his face.

“He’s.. not?”

“Nope! But I’m also here for _me_ , because my dear little friend Virgil needs more friends. So have his address, phone number, locker number, full name, Parent’s name-“

And that’s how they ended up at Virgil Storm’s house, Remus long gone.

It only took about two quick knocks, before they could hear heavy footsteps and a loud, painful _CRASH_ , and the door was flung opened

Standing, nose bleeding, and holding a very long snake, was Virgil. “ _Dee?!_ ” He screamed, before realizing it was them instead.

Slamming the door back closed. 

“Uh.. Virgil? Could we come in?” 

The loud _click_ of a lock was heard.

“Come on, Virgil. We don’t bite.” Patton was reassuring the taller boy through the door.

Muffled, but all three could hear it. “ _Roman does!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°)  
> I’m bad at writing drama


	9. Abandonment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d just like to say, I have no idea where this story is going. I had a plot, I had a plan, and then I took a fUcking red marker and scratched out my enTIRE storyline, so now we have tHiS mESS-

“Iris?”

Dee was searching. He had been, for the past hour. But she wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“...Iris?”

She’d normally come when he got out the mice, a hungry snake slithering about. The mice were on the floor now, running and screeching, but still no Iris.

She liked to sleep in his bags. He checked them all- his backpack, the yellow one he usually carried about, even his mother’s old purse. He didn’t know which mother’s it was, but he decided not to think about that. But still no snake, papers and pencils scattered around the house.

It was hot outside, and Iris liked the heat. He looked there too, and let’s just say, the grass wasn’t going to grow back. 

“Iris!” Dee was desperate now. He already lost his mothers. They were gone, he was never getting them back. He made friends with Virgil, but then he went and messed everything up- it wasn’t even his friend’s fault, he didn’t mean to say those words. He didn’t know. But Dee got angry anyways, and Virgil was going to hate him. And he’dnever have soulmates. Not ones that loved him, anyways. 

He couldn’t loose Iris too.

But it was fine. It was all going to be _fine_. He’d grow up alone, but he was fine with that. Dee knew what he was doing the second he decided to ignore his soulmates.

_It’s fine._ ~~It was not.~~

Dee fell to the floor, ~~tears dripping down his face~~ knees up and hands in his dark, curly hair. Where had he seen her last?

_Virgil’s._

Virgil’s house wasn’t too far. It’d just be a few minutes, he could leave now. Virgil would be there, but he’d just walk in, get Iris, and leave.

Yeah. Get Iris.

Patton could feel the anxiety getting worse. He knew it wasn’t from Roman or Logan, so it was probably Virgil. They were intruding on his doorstep, after all.

It just.. didn’t seem to be coming from Virgil. It felt like it was further away, not just behind the door in front of them. Could there be.. a fifth one?

No. No, they already had one soulmate hiding. What were the chances they had two?

Not very high, Patton knew that. ~~Anything can happen~~

Logan was the first to break the tension. “I was not aware that Roman had bit you. Are you alright?” He remembered the way Virgil yelled, _“Roman_ _does!_ ” His boyfriend’s ignorance towards metaphors would’ve gotten a laugh out of Patton, had they not been in this situation.

“No- Logan, he.. didn’t actually bite me. It’s a figure of speech.” It seemed Virgil’s voice was getting louder. That was good, right?

“Oh. Sorry. Might I ask why, exactly, you don’t like his company?”

All was quiet, until a broken, sad voice rang out.

“Did I do something wrong?” _Roman_.

No one spoke.

One.

Two.

Three. (Patton was counting the seconds.)

Four.

Five.

Si-

“ _Virgil!_ ” 

It was a scream, desperate and loud. Patton realized, with a start, that the anxiety and panic he felt earlier, was closer. Behind him. Loud, heavy footsteps pounded on the ground, made by strong, black boots- a door was ripped open, by a wide eyed Virgil. Before anyone could turn around, to see the owner of the voice, none other than Dee Ceit was sprinting into the house, nearly knocking Virgil over, and whipping his head around frantically, looking for something.

“Dee- Dee-“ Virgil placed his hands on the shorter boy’s shoulders, but Dee didn’t even acknowledge it. “Dee, oh my god, calm _down_ -“

“I just- Iris?” There were.. tears? Tears, streaming down a scarred face, him being too frantic to even form sentences.

And then there was a snake. Boom, just like that- ball python. Dee was already reaching, and Iris was already sliding out of Virgil’s arms. And then he crumpled to the floor, a three foot snake wrapped around his shoulders, sobs wracking his body.

Well. That escalated quickly. ( _Patton, this is no time for memes-_ )

It was panic, and fear, and sadness, and.. maybe a little bit of guilt, coming from one of his soulmates. It was so hard to tell, having three. (four?) But it immediately transformed into relief, and joy, and love. 

Patton wondered vaguely if any of the others felt the emotional ties as much as he did. Judging from their expressions, no.

And before he knew what was happening, Dee was wailing, tears running down his face, getting the floor wet. He wasn’t sniffling with small sobs anymore, but full on bawling.

And before he knew what he was doing, Patton was right next to him on the floor. Cradling the small boy in his arms and rocking back and forth, whispering sweet nothings.

Patton and Dee were upstairs, Remus soon joining them (Virgil called as soon as Dee came. He knew Dee’s parents were.. gone, so Remus had taken as an older brother figure.)

Roman was staring at him from across the living room floor, Logan on the couch.

“I knew Dee had a fear of abandonment, but I didn’t think he’d run all the way here..” Virgil muttered, looking down.

“Yes, well, we have more pressing matters to attend to.”

Those were the last words Virgil heard, before he knew his small act was up.

_Well, shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oH MY GOD THE NEW EPISODE-
> 
> We were expecting the Moceit shippers to be crying. We were wrong. So, so wrong.
> 
> The best part was, that the whole team decided that to show Patton’s distress, he should turn into a seven foot tall frog with abs. 
> 
> JANUS’S LITTLE “nYEAH” WHILE TALKING ABOUT STAIRS KILLED ME
> 
> “Just a little sabotage. As a treat.”
> 
> I think I’m gonna make a human!au where everyone finds out Dee’s name is Janus, and he uses “Dee” as a nickname, and make fun of him for being named Janice
> 
> Also, I keep getting more views on all my fics because of how Janus-central the newest episode is and I just- uwu
> 
> Also also, I will not be changing the names on all of my fics. Let them be a relic of older times
> 
> (Sorry for the long notes)


End file.
